15 December 2006

smart partnerships & cultures as reflected in hotels

I love this; it seems like such a no-brainer to me. This is what I saw when I stepped into the bathroom of my W Hotel room last night. Bliss Spa sounds like such a wonderful idea for a partnership with W. Same goes for JetBlue and Dunkin' Donuts. What are some of your favorite partnerships?

I also love how different - how VASTLY different - two luxury hotels can be from each other, just based on where they are. Here is a photo from the W Seattle (click for bigger on all of these).

And here is one from the Driskill Hotel in Austin, Texas, where I am tonight.

And we cannot forget the CandyLand that was my Chicago hotel on Monday and Tuesday.

I love it. They are all done so well, and in their own styles reflecting some of the culture of the city. Maybe not so much the Hotel Monaco in Chicago - Chicago definitely doesn't seem like Alice in Wonderland 24 hours a day - but you know what I mean.

I wish I could have seen more of Seattle - I loved it. What I did see from the airport to the hotel and back, that is. I was only there for 12 hours, and it is the city in the U.S. that I most want to visit. The only things: Starbucks and Windows win over Dunkin' Donuts and Mac. Not sure about that one. But everything else aside, I think it's great. A little more naturey than what I'm used to, in terms of density and lushness (I don't think that's a word), but I loved what I saw.

My body is confused. I don't even know what time zone I'm in anymore. But I fly HOME tomorrow. It was a crazy week, worth the exhaustion, but I'm excited to sleep in my own fluffy Cool Whip bed.